The Mississippi State Men’s tennis team traveled to Knoxville, Tennessee, to take on the No. 14 Tennessee Volunteers this past Friday.
The Bulldogs are not new to ranked opponents as Tennessee was the seventh ranked opponent the Bulldogs have faced this season. Mississippi State fell 5-2 against the Volunteers as they dropped consecutive matchups for the first time all season.
The University of Tennessee got off to a strong start by securing the doubles point to begin the day. Tennessee’s ranked players bested Mississippi State’s freshman Petar Jovanovic and graduate Ewen Lumsden 6-0 while also locking up the doubles point with a win over Nemanja Malesevic and Carles Hernandez.
Despite having strong pairings for doubles, the Bulldogs were unable to come out on top against the Volunteers.
In addition to the upset of the doubles match, scattered rain poured down on the players in the midst of the first singles match at Barksdale Stadium. The match was delayed over an hour and was eventually moved to play inside the Goodfriend Tennis Center for the remainder of the time.
With a new atmosphere in the indoor tennis center, the Bulldogs looked to pull off a win against the Volunteers. However, their efforts fell short.
Along with the dropped doubles matches, Mississippi State did not have much success in singles, either. The Bulldogs were able to secure only two wins in their six singles matches. It was too little, too late as the Vols already held the victory in their hands.
Junior Carles Hernandez continued his strong season by picking up his 21st singles win of the year. State’s second singles win came by way of graduate Gregor Ramskogler winning in straight sets over Tennessee’s Tomas Rodriguez.
The Mississippi State men’s tennis team is now 16-5 following the heartbreak to Tennessee, and the loss brought the team’s SEC record to 4-4.
While the loss proved to be a continuation of the team’s struggles on the road, Mississippi State looks to play Louisiana State University on Friday to add a conference win to their record. The Bulldogs will host the match against No. 44 LSU at home on Friday at 3 p.m.